Thursday, 8 September 2022

September 8th 1982 - Marvel UK, 40 years ago this week.

Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon
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Little change was in evidence at the top of the UK singles chart, this week in 1982 and, because of that, the top slot was still held by Survivor's Eye of The Tiger.

Meanwhile, on the British album chart, the Kids from Fame continued to maintain dominion, thanks to their self-titled album.

I must confess to not being the world's biggest fan of Eye of the Tiger but tracks I did approve of on that week's singles chart include:

Save a Prayer - Duran Duran

Come On Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners

Private Investigations - Dire Straits

What? - Soft Cell

All of My Heart - ABC

Wot! - Captain Sensible

Don't Go - Yazoo

Windpower - Thomas Dolby

Summertime - the Fun Boy Three

Strange Little Girl - the Stranglers

Stool Pigeon - Kid Creole and The Coconuts

and

The Only Way Out - Cliff Richard.

If you wish to investigate the subject further, that week's UK singles chart can be found here.

While the associated album chart resides right here.

The Incredible Hulk #24, the Avengers

Judging by that cover, and the design of Goliath's costume, I'm going to assume that, this week, we're seeing a reprint of Incredible Hulk #128 in which the Avengers blunder around, trying to prevent the Hulk from beating up the San Andreas Fault.

As the United States' west coast is still with us, I shall assume they succeed in their aim, although I can't recall exactly how they do it. Given the Hulk's history, I wouldn't be surprised if gas is involved.

The Ghost Rider would appear to still be having adventures and there's a feature about the brand new Conan movie that's wowing them in the cinemas of the world.

But, for those who demand even more excitement from their comics, we're given the chance to win ten Doctor Who games!

Super Spider-Man TV Comic #496

It seems the webbed wonder and the X-Men unite to face a Hellpit, which sounds dramatic.

Equally dramatically, the tale involves them fighting a group of high and mighty immortals named after Indian gods.

Hanna Barbera's Scooby-Doo and His T.V. Friends #29

Yet again, Onboarder, AKA Mark, has come to the rescue and supplied me with a cover to Scooby-Doo's mag.

And, thanks to his efforts, I know that, this issue, we get instructions on how to make a cardboard robot, the Scooby Gang investigate a ghostly clock tower, Dynomutt encounters the Astounding Mr Mastermind, and all our dreams come true as we get to see Scrappy-Doo in action.

Thanks to Mark, the whole issue can be found by clicking this very link, in order to visit it at The Internet Archive.

37 comments:

Redartz said...

Condolences to all my UK friends on the passing of Queen Elizabeth. She was the first head of state I ever learned of, aside from US Presidents. Her profile was right there on all those Canadian coins I got in change as a kid...

Like you Steve, not a fan of "Eye of the Tiger". But "Save A Prayer" is my favorite Duran Duran song. It took it a couple more years to be released as a single over here.

Anonymous said...

Steve, how could you post anything at a time like this? You cheeky South Yorkie rebel...
Have you at least found out what the secret of the fruit gums is yet? I had a look inside that Scooby Doo at the link you provided, but it doesn't say.

Did you not approve of Grandmaster Flash or Afrika Bambaataa then?
I know neither of them are exactly Cliff Richard, but still... 'Planet Rock' in paricular was fantastic - Kraftwerk's 'Trans-Europe Express' relocated to the South Bronx.

-sean

Steve W. said...

Thanks, Red. I couldn't claim to be a monarchist but, clearly, today has been an era-ending one in the history of this nation.

Sean, I'd forgotten what The Message goes like but, having just played it on YouTube, I can confirm it's one of the singles from this week that I approve of. The Afrika Bambaataa one doesn't really do anything for me.

I must confess I'm still clueless as to what the secret of the fruit gums is. Then again, I suppose that's why they call it a secret.

McSCOTTY said...

Sean, Steve: From memory the Fruit Gum secret was a contest where you had to find the full name and full address of three "people"(I assume) hidden in 3 posters. The winner was given lifetime access to a holiday home time share. There were also runners up prizes of Raleigh bikes etc.

Like Steve I'm not a royalist \ monarchies but this was certainly an era ending day for the UK. It will be strange not seeing the Queen on TV again but she looked so frail in that last photo with Liz Trust. The BBC coverage was as usual over the top and overpowering especially as there was news on help with our excessive energy bills that just seems to have been ignored.

Some nice tunes in the charts I had a few of these though not Cliffs record.

Colin Jones said...

My sister Lucy died aged 19 so I absolutely refuse to throw myself into the required paroxysm of grief over the death of a 96 year-old woman who enjoyed a life of enormous privilege but I agree with Steve and Paul that it's the end of an era - and by a weird coincidence the Queen has died on the 23rd anniversary of my father's funeral.

Colin Jones said...

Steve, looking at the '82 singles chart I'll add 'Just What I Always Wanted' by Mari Wilson to your list, which is a new entry at #61 and eventually reached #4. I loved that song at the time and I was watching it on YouTube just a couple of weeks ago.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

WINDPOWER on the charts makes Charlie feel warm and fuzzy all over.

And, thanks to you lot, Charlie now gets a warm and fuzzy from CAPTAIN SENSIBLE'S "WOT"!

Condolences on the Queen's passing. Yes indeed. And can someone tell Charlie is he is crazy or not... did the QUEEN not parachute out of a helicopter with "JAMES BOND" when you lot hosted the Olympics? Charlie swears he saw that on the tube and thought it was way way cool.

Colin Jones said...

Charlie, the parachuting stunt did indeed happen but it wasn't really the Queen!

Colin Jones said...

I'm dreading the next ten days of wall-to-wall sycophantic news coverage of the Queen's death but tomorrow's schedules for Radio 4 and Radio 4-Extra seem unaffected so hopefully the BBC has listened to the avalanche of complaints they got following the blanket coverage of Prince Philip's death.

Colin Jones said...

I heard that Prince Charles intended to call himself George VII but that hasn't happened and I remember reading that he also intended to change the family's name to Mountbatten-Windsor so let's see if he does.

I've finally seen the clip of Liz Truss addressing the 1994 Lib-Dem conference in a debate about abolishing the monarchy. She certainly looked different back then! On a scale of embarrassment it's up there with the 16 year-old William Hague at the 1977 Tory conference.

Charlie Horse 47 said...

I must say coverage of the QUEEN's passing has interrupted Charlie's life.

TALKSPORT was all QUEEN for the drive home, which would have been around 23:30 your time. Not sure how her passing is more important than who will replace Tuchel and Chelsea?

And, FRANCEINFO television (youtube) is all QUEEN diggin up all sorts of historical footage. I must say, she looked quite uncomfortable in the scenes where she is in some kind of large canoe / outrigger being paddled by natives, LOL. But she did it so fair play to her!

Anonymous said...

Yes, it appears fruit gum is the adjective. Do they still exist? I haven't had one in close to thirty years but was rather partial.

I remain indifferent about concept of the Royal family but quite like the Queen (or her conduct) individually. I had more time for her after the French Canadian radio shock jock managed to get her on the line, and without realising the wind up, she offered to speak French, as a courtesy to what she thought was a legitimate interview. It's the little things, I guess. I suspect this will, however, accelerate Australia's move towards becoming a republic.

Mari Wilson was a oddity as the time. The 50's retro thing (with Cindy from Eastenders on backing vocals*) suggested she was much older than her actual late twenties, at the time. There were some great songs out during this period.


DW


*I haven't seen Eastenders for roughly the same length of time since last having a fruit gum, and so assume the Cindy/Ian/Wicksy love triangle is long forgotten.

Anonymous said...

quite liked

Charlie Horse 47 said...

COLIN -

First you tell me GOLDEN BROWN by the STRANGLERS is about heroin!

Now you tell the QUEEN did not parachute with JAMES BOND!

What next? Gwen Stacey got killed by the GOBLIN??? LOL.

McSCOTTY said...

Colin, so sorry to read that about your sister passing at such a young age. I agree the coverage ( still almost wall to wall) is still ongoing and is way to much. It is a sad day for many and as noted above the end of an era for so many other people worldwide. It will be strange not seeing her face on things like stamps etc. I also wonder the effects of a new King on the Commonwealth this could be a momentous time in many ways.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry for your loss too, Colin. That's hard.

Phillip

Colin Jones said...

Thanks Paul, Phillip - it was a long time ago (April 1988) but such an event scars you forever.

Colin Jones said...

I'm curious what will happen to the monarchy's popularity now the Queen has gone. When people say they support the monarchy I suspect many really mean the Queen and not all the hangers on. I can't see Charles and Camilla inspiring the same levels of unquestioning devotion but we'll see.

Colin Jones said...

Louis XIV of France is the longest-reigning monarch in history at 72 years and I always assumed that Liz Windsor would live to be 100 and claim the record for herself but it wasn't to be.

Anonymous said...

I don't actually think of this as the end of an era at all.
The big turning point in modern Britain imo was the financial crash. The turbulence that followed - Brexit, and the rapid turnover of incompetent right-wing headcases in Downing Street (four prime ministers so far in the six years since the referendum!) will have much more impact on the UK than the death of the queen.

Its hard to see attitudes to the royals changing much in Britain - especially England (not counting the peoples republic of South Yorkshire obviously, Steve) but I think DW and Paul are correct that there'll be an effect in other territories where King Charles III is now head of state.
Although changes like, say, Jamaica probably becoming a republic quite soon were on the cards anyway.

-sean

Charlie Horse 47 said...

Would one of you be able to explain the benefit of a Commonwealth?

Are members free to move among the realms and mother land?

Could Steve move to Kingston Town and write books and blogs from there, no problem?





Anonymous said...

Theres no freedom of movement as such in the Commonwealth, Charlie.
Funnily enough, the only people who can enter the UK completely freely these days are the Irish - and we (well, not me personally obviously) refused to join the Commonwealth! I think the only other 20th century post-colonial territory that knocked membership back was Myanmar. The Burmese are obviously champion grudge holders too.

Anyway, as I understand it, the original idea of the Commonwealth was to preserve some of the economic links of the empire, but the Brits decided after a while that didn't suit them and joined the (then) European Economic Union - now the EU - instead.
Fast forward a few decades, and they decided that they didn't like that either so they waxed nostalgic about how great the Commonwealth had been earlier, left Europe, and are now applying for membership of er... the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Some people are never happy, eh? (And seem to have a somewhat shaky grasp of basic geography)

-sean

Charlie Horse 47 said...

The town is having a "rock the block" party which means pizza, beer, a loud band, and now cops on rooftops after the shooting spree up the street on July 4.

Not exactly "digging the scene" (sorry Blow Monkey fans) I ducked into the LCBS... just me and the teen ager running whose head was buried 10 feet deep in a comic. Anyhow, I picked up an epic collection of Cap Americas. Started reading a story involving Falcon, Nomad, D-Man... The cover was a knock off of Avengers 4.

Who the heck was D-Man? And what had happened to Steve Rogers? The prologue said he had disappeared or something or another. D-Man basically had the Wolverine's uniform with a D on it. It did look D as in Dumb...

Colin Jones said...

Sean, I seriously doubt that most Brexit voters "waxed nostalgic" about the Commonwealth. I'm sure that most Brits (including me) couldn't care less about the Commonwealth and wonder what it's even for and what it actually does. Apparently a third of Commonwealth countries still jail people for being gay and many are corrupt faux democracies but the Commonwealth boasts about its' "shared values" and similar claptrap. Yes, some of the loonier Brexiteers believed the Commonwealth could replace the EU as a trading zone for the UK but they are the same idiots who believed the United States would give us a "great trade deal".

And you're right that the 2008 crash and Brexit are much more important long-term events than the Queen's death but the end of her long Imperial-style reign is symbolic of Britain's final transformation into a mediocre country off the north-west of Europe.

Anonymous said...

It's strange. Even when I was a little kid (and I'm almost 54) I knew that there was a Queen somewhere, in some faraway place, even if I didn't know anything else about it.
Now there's no queen.
I can't help but be a bit sad. But that's always the way with these things, I guess.

M.P.

Colin Jones said...

I see The Guardian's website has numerous articles about the Queen's death and related issues but none of the articles are open for comments - no doubt because many of the comments would object to the North Korea-style enforced national mourning. What a pathetic and cowardly attitude from a so-called liberal newspaper.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry M.P. - theres still a queen in the faraway land of Denmark.

-sean

Anonymous said...

That's not exactly the same thing, Sean!
Your comment strikes me as disingenuous. For all I know there might be a queen of Luxembourg, but it's not the same deal, not really.

M.P.

Colin Jones said...

MP, there's still a queen in Britain - Queen Camilla, wife of King Charles.

Anonymous said...

Isn't she 'queen consort'? Not the same thing.
Not like in Denmark.

M.P., of course Luxembourg doesn't have a queen - its only a grand duchy.

-sean

Colin Jones said...

Sean, the Queen Mother was a queen consort too but she was still called Queen Elizabeth.

Colin Jones said...

I've just discovered that Camilla's official title is Camilla, Queen Consort so she's not Queen Camilla.

Anonymous said...

Sean- are you cleverly telling us D-man was from Denmark and not Luxembourg?

Anonymous said...

You must be new here Anonyomous, or you'd know I don't tell anyone anything cleverly.

-sean

McSCOTTY said...

A "Queen" ascends the throne through succession ie Elizabeth II and a Queens consort is the wife if a reigning King ( Queen mother, Camilla).
More importantly who is D-Man?

Charlie Horse 47 said...

D-Man = Demolition Man = Dennis Dunphy from Detroit.

At some point he joins Nomad, Falcon, Vagabond to look for "The Captain" aka Captain America, who has gone missing.

Duh....

Colin Jones said...

The Guardian's website has the brass neck to publish a new article saying we need to discuss the monarchy's future while at the same time banning any comments on the article!!!